Parking device



B. WALKER PARKING DEVICE.

Jan- T, 1930.

Filed July 5, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet `l Jan. 7, 1930. a. WALKER 1,742,566

PARKING DEVICE Filed July 5, 192s 4 sheets-sheet 2 W aiLA 5 if".

Jan. 7, 1930. B. WALKER 1,742,566

PARKING DEVICE Filed July 5, 1928 4; sheets-sheet 3 INVENToR. MJ/wu B.WALKER PARKING DEVICE Jan. 7, 1930.

Filed July 5, 1928 4 Sheets-Sheet 4- INVEN TOR. 7Bm/MMX f BY f ,Mm C` fATTORNEYS.

Patented Jan. 7, 1930 UNITED STATES BROOKS WALKER, OF PIEDMONT,CALIFORNIA PARKING DEVICE Application led July 5, 1928. Serial No.290,383.

This invention relates to a parking device for automobiles and the like,and especially to improvements on the structure shown in my co-pendingapplication entitled Parking device for automobiles77 -filed May 3,1927,

Serial Number 188,429.

The object of the present invention is to facilitate the parking ofautomobiles in congested districts where parking space is limited orwhere automobiles are so closely spaced that it is difficult to approachthe curb, and especially to improve and simplify the construction andoperation of the parking device shownl in the application above.referred The improved parking device is shown by way of illustration inthe accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a bottom view of an automobile showing the application of theparking device,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partially in seetion, said View showing therear end of the automobile elevated by means of the parkingdevice,

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing parts of the parking device removed.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed sectional View of the retaining latches.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the automobile showing thegears whcrebv the jack shaft is driven, the jackshaft and thecross-shaft supporting the same.

Fig. 6 is a detailed view of one of the journal members supporting thecross-shaft,

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detailed cross-section similar to Fig. 5 butlooking inthe/opposite direction,

Fig. 8 is a detailed side elevation in section taken on line 8 8 of Fig.7.

Fig. S) is an enlarged sectional view taken on iine 9-9 of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the transmission case. said view beingpartially in section,

Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the transmission case.

Referring to the drawings in detail, and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2.A indicates the main frame of an automobile, 3 the rear wheels, 4 astandard form of gear transmission, 5 the propeller shaft driventhereby, 6 the rear axle housing which contains the usual form ofdifferential mechanism whereby the axles supporting the rear Wheels aredriven.

Extending crosswise of the main frame and secured thereto as at 8 and 9,is a cross shaft 10 upon which is pivotally supported a pair of bearingmembersll and 11a for a shaft 12, which will hereinafter be referred toas a jack-shaft. Journalled in the bearing 11a is a shaft 12a which willhereinafter be referred to as the exhaust ack-shaft. The ackshafts 12and 12a are disposed on opposite sides of the propeller shaft, as shownin Fig. 1 and both shafts carry wheels or rollers such as indicated at13 and 13B, the roller 13 being power driven as will hereinafter bedescribed, while the roller 13Et serves as an i ler.

Secured ori the front end of the jack-shaft 12 is a gear 14, and securedon the transmission shaft is a gear 15. The gears 14 and 15 are normallymaintained out of mesh but they are automatically thrown into mesh whenthe rear end of the automobile is to be elevated, as Will hereinafter bedescribed.

Extending crosswise of the main frame A is a shaft 16, the opposite endsof which are supported in journal members 17, these journal membersbeing secured to the main frame by means of bolts 18 and beingresiliently supported by interposing rubber pads such as shown at 19.

Secured to the shaft 16 is a pair of toggle levers, 20 and 21. Pivotallysecured to the rear ends of the jack-shafts 12 and 12a as at 22 is apair of toggle levers 2O"k and 21a. A pivotal connection 20b is formedbetween the toggle members 20 and 20a and a similar pivotal connection21b is formed between the toggle levers 21 and 21a. The toggle leversserve two functions. First that of normally retaining the jack-shaftsand the rollers 13 and 13a in a retracted or raised position withrelation to the pavement,'indicated at B,'and secondly that of raisingor elcvating the rear end of the automobile7 as shown in Fig. 2.

In view of the fact that the rear end of an automobile is fairly heavy,it should be 'realized that considerable power will se quired to raiseor elevate the rear end. in the present instance, a l'iydraulicallyactuated piston or ram is employed for this purpose. I'ihe piston isplaced in a cylinder 24, and oil or any other vsuitable tiuid is de-Vlivered thereto under pressure by means ot' a power driven pump 25. Thepiston is provided with a connecting rod 26, and the rear end thereof ispivotally connected as at 27 to the toggle levers 20 and 20a."ill-ncylinder 24 is pivotally supported as ai $24 to a cross brace 24"and when oil under pressure is delivered to the cylinder' the piston androd 26 will move rearwardly, thus swinging the toggle levers from thedotted line position indicated at 26, Fig. 2, lo the full line positionshown. During this movement the toggle levers are straightened out. thejack-shafts 12 and 12it are swung about the cross shaft 10 through meansof the journal members 11 and 1l, the rollers 13 and 13a are loweredinto engagement with the pavement and the rear end ot the automobile iselevated.

Gears 14 and 15 are at the same time automatically thrown into mesh andif the engine is running it is only necessary to shift the gears intolow or reverse, in order that power may be transmitted through the gears14 and 15 to the jack-shaft 12, and the driving roller 13. It thetransmission is in low the rear end of the automobile will Swing to theleft, and conversely, it the transmission is thrown into reverse the carwill swing to the right. It is thus possible. when parking a machinebetween closely spaced cars to merely drive the front end of the car intowards the curb and then to raise or elevate the rear end by means ofthe mechanism described, when it is possible to swing the rear end intowards the curb between the closely spaced cars.

Thereafter the oil How to the cylinder 24 is reversed. This causesretraction or folding up of the toggle arms, the rear end isconsequently lowered and the jack-shafts and rollers are elevated orretracted to assume the dotted line position shown in Fig. 2.

In actual practice it has been found that when gears 14 and 15, such asdisclosed, are employed that meshing of the gears is not always possibleas the flat or butt end of the gear teeth will sometimes align. Thiswould throw a great strain on the cross shaft 1() and would tend toslightly spring or bend the same unless some part of the mechanism iscapable of yielding. A resilient bearing 9 has accordingly beenprovided. This is best illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. The bearing properis supported b v a pair .ft rods 9a, which extend through the sideflange of the main frame A. Helical compressirn springs are interposedbetween the outer is the rods and the ange, and a resilient support isthus provided for one end 1 e eros,y shaft, permitting it to yield ifine gears 14, and 15 do not happen to mesh. rv'he moment, however rotarymovement is transmitted to the transmission gear 15. slippage betweenthe gears will take place and they will instantly be thrown into mesh hyupward movement of the bearing 9 and' :"liiilll It is well known thatthe rear end of the main frame of an automobile is supported withrelation to the rear axle housing by means of scmi-eliptical springs orthe like. sach as indicated at 30. I found that when 'the rear end iselevated, the springs 30 tend to how upwardly as the load is raised. andthat considerable movement is lost in this manner before the rear wheelsare actually lifted from the pavement. In order to eliminare this lostmotion, a hook shaped latch 31 is employed, see Figs. 2, 7 and 8. Thelower hook shaped end engages a plate 32 or the like secured to the rearaxle housing. The upper end of thel latch is pivotally attached to themain frame A, as indicated at Secured to the cross shaft 16 is a crankarm 34 and forming a connection between 'the lower end of said crank armand the latch 31 is an extensible link consisting of two members such asindicated at 35 and 36. The member 36 is tubular, as shown in Fig. 9, sothat the member 35 may telescope with relation thereto. A helical coilspring 37, connects the two members and as such permits contraction orelongation of the link connection. The members 34, together with thelink members 35 and 36 form a-means for automatically engaging ordisengaging the latch 31 which relation to the plate 32 on the rear axlehousing. In fact, it might here be stated that two sets of latches,links and crank arms 34 are employed, as shown in Fig. 7, so that bothof the springs 30 on opposite sides of the frame will be engaged. Theautomatic operation of the latches 31 will be as follows When the togglelevers a re collapsed and retracted, as shown by dotted lines at 26 inFigs. 2 and 3, crank arms 34 will assume the dotted line positionindicated at 34a. The moment, however, that the toggle levers areextended the crank arms 34 swing downwardly and rearwardly, andas suchswing the latches 31 into engagement with t-he plates 32 and engagementis formed bel'orc the rollers reach the pavement and before any liftingof the rear end takes place. The latches thus engaged prevent extensionof the springs, as the rear end is being elevated, and considerable lostmotion is thus eliminated. The reason for providing the telescoping linkconnection indicated at and 36 is to permit continued movement of thecrank arms 34 while the rea. end is being elevated or lifted. Thedetailed construction l fr telescopin;r` l conne-:tion well illustratedin. Fi;Y` f L ln order that the'. pump and the hydraulic cylinderactuated thereby may he simply and readily controlled, a single levercontrol mechanism is employed, this being best illstrated in Figs. 10and 11. In fact, the convided with an extension 43, on which is se-`cured a collar 44, a spring is interposed between the collar and thesideA of the transmission case, and the shaft 41, together with thesquare frame 42 attached thereto will accordingly normally assume theposition shown in Fig. 10, and if it is desired to change its position,it is necessary to do so manually by swinging the gear shift leversideways to the right. Vhen this is done, movement is transmitted fromthe extension 43 to a crank arm 46. This actuates a gear shift withinthe transmission case which is not here illustrated. This gear shiftconnects the hydraulic pump 25 with the transmission gears so that whenthe transmission is operated the pump will be driven and Huid or oilwill he delivered to the cylinder 24. The flow of the oil t to thecylinder must, however, be controlled.

That is, it must be delivered to one end or another thereof, so that therear end may either be elevated or lowered as the case may be. In thepresent instance this control is also actuated from the gear shift leverthrough means of a longitudinally extending shaft 47 which is slidablymounted in the transmission gear case. The shaft 47 is provided With acollar 48. in which is formed a notch indicated by dotted linesat 49,s'ee Fig. 10. When the gear shift lever 40 is swung sideways to theright, it ywill enter the notch 49 and if the gear'shift lever is thenmoved forwardly, movement will be transmitted to a bell crank 50. Themovement of the bell crank will in turn he transmitted through a link 51to a valve 52 on the pump. For instance, if rod 47 is moved forwardly inthe direction of arrow a it will set the valve so that the oil deliveredto the pump will move the piston in a direction to cause elevation ofthe rear end. Conversely, if shaft 47 is moved by the lever 40 in adirection opposite to the direction of arrow a valve 52 will be set toreverse the flow of oil to the cylinder and hence cause the rear end tobe lowered.

In order to explain .the operation, it will be assumed that the shaft 47has been moved forwardly in the direction of arrow a and that the valve52 is so positioned that the oil delivered by the pump 25 will cause thepiston and rod 2&3 to move rearwardly and thereby cause elevation of therear end. .Vhen this has 'been accomplished the gear shift lever ismoved either into reverse or low position as the case may be and powerwill then be transmitted through the gears 14 and 15 and the jack shaft12 to the driving roller 1S, thus causing it to rotate to the right orthe left, as the case may be, thereby causing the rear of the car to beswung towards or away from the curb.

By referring io Figs. 3 and 4, it will be noted that a latch mechanismis illustrated. There are two latches, such as indicated at GO and 61.The latch is pivoted to a bracket 62 at, the point 63 and its upper endis engaged by compression spring 64. The latch 61 is pivotally supportedas at 65 and it is also engaged by a compression spring 6G.v Attached tothe latch 61 at a point near its lower end is a cable G7. This cable ispassed over guide pulleys, such as indicated at 68 and it is finallyattached to the link 51, see Fig. 10. The purpose of the two latchesindicated at 60 and 61 is to support the jack -shafts and the toggleswhen in their elevated or retracted position las the hydraulic pressurein the cylinder can not be depended upon to maintain them elevated. Thatis, leakage takes plate and the toggles and shafts would gradually lowerthemselves. In the present instance, latches 6D and 61 engage the jackshaft 12 at. a point near its rear end, as indicated at 70, sce Fig. 3.The latch 61 is automatically released when the jack shafts are to belowered, the automatic release being obtainedby connecting the cable 67Iwith the link 51. That is, when the link 51 is moved to shift the valve52 to position' where the flow of the oil will lower the toggles andjack shafts, latch 61 is released to permit such lowering movement. Onthe other hand when the position of the link 51 and the valve 52 isreversed to raise the toggles and the jack shafts, latch 61 is pulledinwardly by means of the cable and as such will spring in and snap inunder the jack shaft when it is raised to elevated position. It willaccordingly be noted that both the latches 31 which prevents extensionof the main supportingsprings 30 and the latch 61 which support the jackshaft, are automatically operated.

The mechanism shown in the present instance is an improvement on themechanism shown in my tto-pending application already referred to. Thepoints of improvement are as follows:

In the present instance a two point support is provided when the rearend is elevated, to wit, the rollers 13 and 13a. In my co-pendingapplication a single roller centrally disposed is employed. The twopoint support has been found to be a great improvegear transmission isactuated, an auxiliary lifting and propelling device for the vehicle,means for transmitting power from the engine to actuate the lifting andpropelling mechanism, and means actuated by the gear shift'lever forcontrolling the transmission of power to the lifting and propellingmechanism.

8. In a motor vehicle a transmission through which the vehicle isdriven, means controlling the transmission, an auxiliary lifting andpropelling mechanism on the vehicle, means for transmitting power toactuate the lifting and propelling mechanism, and means actuated by thetransmission controlling means for controlling the application of power.

9. The combination with the main frame of a motor Vehicle of a vehiclelifting mechanism, a cushioning member secured to the main frame, alifting device secured to the cushioning member, and means on theopposite end of the lifting member for engaging the ground surface andfor supporting the frame in its lifted position.

10. The combination with the main frame of a motor vehicle of a vehiclelifting mechanism supported by the frame in its inoperative position anda resilient member forming a connection between said lifting devioe andthe vehicle frame during the lifting operation.

11. The combination with the main frame of a motor vehicle of a vehiclelifting mecha-- nism resiliently mounted on said frame.

12. The combination with the main frame of a motor vehicle of a vehiclelifting mechanism resiliently mounted on said frame, and means forpreventing the extension of the main supporting springs during thelifting operation.

13. The combination with the main frame f of a motor vehicle of avehicle lifting mechanism, secured at one end to the frame, means at theopposite end of the mechanism for engaging the ground surface and forsupporting the main frame in a lifted position, supporting means forengaging and securing the axle assembly and for preventing extension ofthe springs interposed between the axle assembly 'and the frame duringlifting of the frame, said engaging means being automatically actuatedby movement of the lifting member to move it into and out of engagementwith the axle assembly and said means including a lost motion device.

14. The combination with the main frame of a motor vehicle of a vehiclelifting mechanism, secured at one end to the frame, means at theopposite end of the mechanism for engaging `the ground surface and forsupporting the main frame in lifted position, supporting means forengaging and securing the axle assembly and for preventing extension ofthe springs interposed between the axle assembly and the frame duringlifting of the frame, and a lost motion connection between the liftingdevice and the axle assembly supporting member, said lost motionconnection causing engagement of the supporting member before thelifting member engages the ground surface and maintaining the supportingmember in engagement until the axle assembly is returned to normalposition.

15. In a vehicle lifting and propelling mechanism of the characterdescribed, a lifting member having a pair of interspaced supportingwheels, one of said wheels being power propelled and means forpositioning said wheels so that the power propelled wheel will support alarger proportion of the vehicle Weight than the other wheel.

16. In a vehicle lifting and propelling mechanism of the characterdescribed, a lifting member having a pair of interspaced supportingwheels, said vwheels being disposed one on each side of a centrallongitudinal axis drawn through the vehicle and said proelling wheelbeing closer to said central on itudinal axis than the other.

1 The combination with the main frame the vehicle, and a lost motionlink mechanism forming a connection between the lifting device and thelocking means so as to automatically lock or release the locking means.

18. The combination with a motor vehicle of a lifting device therefor,comprising a pair of toggles, each toggle comprising upper and lowerpivotally connected links, and means rigidly connecting the upper endsof theupper links.

19. The combination with a motor vehicle of a lifting device thereforcomprising a pair of toggles, each toggle comprising upper and lowerpivotally connected links, means rigidly connecting the upper ends ofthe upper links, and means for applying power to the pivotal connectionbetween the links forming one of the toggles so as to extend or fold thetoggles. l BROOKS IVALKER.

Patent No. 1,742,566 Granted January 7, 1930 BROOKS WALKER Yl`||v almwlilliliw lmlvlxi was @Xtnllwi Jul)` ;i. 15ML mnh-r 1110 puniH sonh` ofthe am' of June 250. ,195th for G years and 2M days [mm the expirationof the nrlgmal term thereof.

('onzAnLz'M-[oner of Puffuts.

Patent No* 1,742,566 Granted January 7, 1930 BROOKS WALKER 'Hw 'dl-uwllslillecl puh'nl was extcmlwl Jul)I :M lll. umher tlm proxi- M0115l ofthe avi' 0f June 30, 1950. for 6 years and 214- (lnys frmn theexpiration of the angina! term thereof.

